Recently, a new magnetic tape the coercive force of which is extremely high (Hc=1200 Oe) as a metallic tape is provided. In order to erase the signals recorded on such a magnetic tape, the erasure ratio (degree of erasure) must be over -65 dB. Since it has been required to increase the size of the erase head in order to increase the erasure ratio sufficient to erase the signals prerecorded on such a new type tape, bulky erase heads had to be used. However, when an erase head is assembled in a cassette tape recorder (player), the size of the erase head is required to be small enough since there is less space for the erase head.